Temperature-indicating device for rubber-treating apparatus.



H. R. BANKER].-

TEMPERATURE INDICATING DEVICE FOR RUBBER TREATING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 11.1914.

Patented Apr, 30, 191.8.

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EN, or PHILADELPHIA, IENNSYLVANIA, ssrenon :ro THE LEEDS &

:IQUETHJR-UP COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F IBENNSYLVANIA.

Be it known that I, HAnoLo R. RANKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the cityof Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Temperature-Indicating Devices for Rubber-Treating Apparatus, of which the following is -aful1, clear, and exact disclosure.

This invention relates to the manufacture of rubber, more particularly to the installation of electrical resistance thermometers in rubber treating apparatus, and has for its object to provide a junction or inlet box for passing the lead wires of the portable bulb through the wall of the rubber treating vessel without permitting leakage and without any effects from thermo-electric action; toprovide an-insulation for the lead wires inside the treating vessel that will promote flexing of the lead wires and will be unaflected by conditions inside the treating vessel;'

and to provide a protective flexible tubing for the wires inside the vessel that will revent leakage into the wires, bulb or inlet x. The successful operation of electric resistance thermometers depends upon the maintenance of good electrical insulation over the system and upon the absence of In connection with rubber treating apparatus such as vulcanizers, box kilns, etc., wherein a fluid, gas,

or liquid is used under high or low temperature and under induced pressure, atmospheric pressure or vacuum, great difficulty has been experienced in insulating the joint of the portable bulb lead wires through the wall of the treating vessel, making the same fluid, gas, liquid, and pressure tight, and preventing thermo-electric action at the joint. The present lnvention obviates this difliculty by the provislon of a novel inlet box which conducts the lead wires without breaks or joints into the treat:' ing vessel through insulated passageways so sealed as to be liquid, gas, fluld, and pres- Difliculty has also been experienced in so insulating the lead wires within the vessel that the insulation will not. break down owing to) conditions within the vessel, and will not obstructthe'readyflexing of the wires. The present inyent1onobviates fills" I Specification of Letters Patent.

Application fi1er1 .Tu1y 17, 1914.: Serial No.8b1 ,666.

Patented Apr. 309, Jlfilllfl.

'difliculty by insulating the flexible lead Wires from eachother by glass beads which promote the easy flexing of the wires and are unaflected by heat, chemical, or other changes within the vessel.

Difliculty has also been experienced in preventing short-circuiting, and in preventmg obstruction to the proper operation of the thermometer owing to the ingress of fluids, especially steam, gas and liquids to the wires, bulb and inlet box. The present invention obviates this difficulty by inclosingthe lead wires inside the vessel withv a protective flexible tubing which is liquid,

gas and fluid tight, and is so sealed to the ..box and bulb as to positively prevent leakageinto these parts. I In the drawing, one that may be used to practice my invention is shown, in which drawing:

Figure I is a fragmentary view the application of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic viewshowing, the electrical connections of the thermometer; 1

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of one of the box connectors; v Fig. 4 is a detail sectional viewof the inside flexible lead. Y

For the purposes of illustration, a vulcanizer 10 is shown equipped with. an elec- Showing trical resistance thermometer embodying 1 my lmprovements, but it is to be understood that the application of theinvention is-not limited to vulcanizing apparatus, as in its 9 form of apparatus 1 a treating medium or agent for rubber in (any stage ofits manufacture.

. The electrical resistancethermometer used in the present embodiment isof the usual and well known type comprising a modified Wheatstone bridge indicating instrument 0 11, a sensitive bulb 12, the resistance changes of which are recorded by the indicating instrument in. .he usual manner, and three-lead wires 13 electricallyconnecting theinjdicating instrument .with the bulb, as

shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2.

" In Carrying utmy -invention;the

lead wires 13 from the indicating instrument are passed into the vulcanizer through 1 an inlet box 14 which willbe presently-de-- 116 scribed, thencontinued inside the vulcanizer for any desired distance and terminally equipped with the thermometer bulb 12, two of the wires being connected with one end of the resistance coil of the bulb and the third with the other end of desired location in the vessel where an indication of the temperature is desired.

The inlet box 14 comprises a base member 15 and a cap member 16,v which with packing washers 17 between them, are clamped tightly together by bolts 18. The base member 15 is provided with a threaded nipple 19 seal and make the connection fluid, gas,-

which is screwed into a threaded opening formed in the wall of the vulcanizer, the threads being leaded or otherwise treated to liquid, and pressure tight.

There are three box connectors disposed in the cap members 16 to form insulated passageways for the three lead wires 13, one ofwhich connectors is shown in detail in Fig, 3. Each connector comprises a metal tube 20, preferably brass, which is insulated from the cap member by a tube 21 of insulating material, preferably glass, and is thr'eaded at both ends to receive nuts 22 that are screwed down and compress washers'23 of insulating material, preferably mica, tight against the cap member to seal and make the passage oflooth tubes through the member fluid, gas, liquid, and pressure tight. The corresponding lead wire 13, preferably formed of nickel alloy, passes without breaks or joints from the indicating instrument 11 through the' brass tube 20 to the bulb 12,

and is soldered, cemented, or otherwise sealed as shown at 24, to both ends ofthe tube to prevent leakage around the wire through the tube.

By virtue of the lead Wires passing into the vulcanizer without breaks or joints, thermo-electric action with consequent disturbance of the balance" of the Wheatstone bridge cannot occur'f'a'swould be the case were the inside and outside lead wires soldered or otherwise joined together by a bond of different metal from the wires.

The three lead wires outside the vulcanizer from the indicator to the inlet box are incased in a protective covering 25 of any preferred construction; and the three lead wires inside the vulcanizer from the inlet box to the bulb'are incased in a flexible metal tube 26, of fluid, gas, liquid, and pressure tlght construction, such as shown for. in-

stance in detail in Fig. 4: The covering 25 and tube 26 are nchored fast to respective caps 27 and 28 to prevent flexing with consequent breaking ofl' of the lead Wires at the ends of the box connectors.

To enhance flexibility without disturbing the insulation of the lead wires inside the vulcanizer, beads 29 of insulating material, preferably glass, are threaded upon the wires and insulate them from each other and from their protective flexible tube. The lead wires thus insulated, maybe made of any desired length to permit of manipulating and localizing the bulb at any desired point in the vulcanizer without danger of breaking down the insulation due to the inlead wires through the'wall of the vulcanizer cannot occur, leakage into the inside lead wlres," bulb, -or 1nlet box cannot occur,

thermo-electric action cannot occur, and the breaking down of the insulation of the inside-lead wires cannot occur.

Having thus described this form of my invention, what I claim and desire tect by Letters Patent is:

1. In an apparatus of the kind described in combination, a chamber, means'to heat the interior of the chamber, a fluid-tight inlet-member rior of the chamber, an electrically controlled indicator, a conductor-member passing through said inlet-member and an electric heat-sensitive member connected to said conductor-member within said chamber at a point beyond said inlet-member.

2. In an apparatus of the kind described in combination, a chamber, means to heat the interior of the chamber, a fluid-tight inlet-member providing access to the interior of said chamber, an electrically controlled temperature indicator, a flexible conductor member passing through said inletmember and an electric heat-sensitive member connected to said conductor-member within said chamber at a point beyond said inlet-member. j

3. In an apparatus of the kind described in combination, a chamber, means-to heat the interior of the chamber, a box secured to said chamber and provided with a conduit to permit the passage of wires therethrough to the interior of the chamber, an

electrlcally controlled temperature indicator,

to proproviding access to the inteconducting wires passing through the orifice of said box and having their outer tor minals connected to said indicator and an electric thermometer bulb connected to the wires within the chamber at a'p'oint beyond the box.

4. In all-apparatus of the kind described. in combination, a chamber, a fluid-tight inlet-member provided with a conduit adapted to permit the passage of the conductormember therethrough into the interior of the chamber, an electrically controlled temperature indicator, a comluctomnember passing through said conduit, and having its outer end connected to said indicator, an electric heat-sensitive member connected to said conductor-member within said chamber at a point beyond said inlet-member and a fluidtight JOIHt between said conductor and the walls of the conduit in said inlet-member.

a. The combination of a chamber for treating rubber, means to heat the interior of the chamber, a portable electric resistance ther inside the chamber extending beyond the inlet-box, and means anchoring the outer end of the tubing stationary to the box and preventin flexing of the lead wires at their entry into the box.

(5.. The combination of a chamberjfor treating rubber, means to heat the interior of the chamber, a portable electric resistance thermometer bulb inside the chamber, a temperature indicator outside the chamber, conductor \vires electrically connecting the bulb to the indicator and forming a flexible lead for the portable bulb nside the chamber, an inlet box conducting the wires with their continuity uninterrupted leakage tight through the wall of the chamber,,a leakage tight flexible tubing extending beyond the inlet box housing-the Wires inside the chamher and sealed to the box and to the bulb and preventil'lg leakage into the box, bulb, and wires, and beads of heatand chem1cal impervious insulating material threaded upon the wires. inside the tubin Signed at Philada, county of Philada, and State of Pennsylvania, this ninth day of July, 1914.

HAROLD It. RANKEN. Witnesses LOUIS TABER, J. RUSSELL WINDER. 

